


Hi there!

by StarsHideYourFires



Series: What If... [4]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Dog!John, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, cat!Sherlock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-27
Updated: 2011-11-27
Packaged: 2017-10-26 14:23:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/284300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarsHideYourFires/pseuds/StarsHideYourFires
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Molly Hooper takes her dog for a walk and he manages to befriend a rather odd cat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hi there!

Molly Hooper felt guilty for keeping a golden retriever in a London flat; he was too big and full of energy to stay cooped up in so small a space, but she loved John. To make up for her long hours at the morgue when he was left alone, she always took him for a long walk every morning and evening.

On one of these evening walks, as Molly gripped the supple brown leather of John’s leash, the retriever trotted forward, his black nose snuffling along the pavement before pausing at the base of a rubbish bin, his overlarge paws coming to a halt. His lady sucked against her teeth as she tugged him forward. Giving one last sniff, John walked along and pulled ahead, excited to keep moving and finding a multitude of new scents.

As the happy pair turned onto Baker Street, John’s ears perked up and a soft whine emitted from his throat. He turned his blocky head back to glance at Molly, his brows lifted in a pleading question and his fluffy tail wagging rapidly. Then he ran forward tugging on his lead, giving a muted chuff of a bark. Molly clasped her free hand around the soft leather that looped around her palm and leaned back as she noticed what had her dog so excited. A sleek black cat with a white chest and gloves was perched in the open window of a ground floor flat, a distinct air of imperiousness radiating off its lithe body.

“John, stop that,” she said sharply. His floppy ears relaxed as he turned his head to look back at her and whined. Then he looked back and forth between her face and the feline in the open window while shifting back and forth on his legs, finally pulling again and prompting Molly to follow. She wrapped the lead around her pale hand a few more times, attempting to rein the nearly six stone dog in, and failing. “No, leave it,” Molly said, trying once more to regain control.

John continued to drag his owner to the window, and upon reaching it he did little more than bark politely and sit down. The cat stared down at him with pale green eyes before giving a curious chirrup and turning back to look into its flat. In the briefest moment a hand slid down the cat’s back before it leapt from the window, landing gracefully beside John and reaching a delicate white paw up to bat at his muzzle.

“Oh, Sherlock,” a tutting woman’s voice came from the flat, “Come back in here.” She stuck her head out the window and saw Molly, John, and her cat grouped together. “Oh, thank god, he hasn’t run yet. Would you mind picking him up, Miss?”

“Sure,” Molly said as she reached down for the cat, but to her surprise, John moved protectively in front of it, blocking the much smaller creature from view. She looked over her dog, and saw him sniff gently at the cat’s head before licking it once. Surprisingly, the cat did not mind too much and, after shaking its head and circling around a few times, it curled up at John’s feet.

By the time Molly managed to sneak around John—who was still sniffing along the cat’s back—and pick up the small, black creature she very distinctly heard it purring. The gentle, rumbling noise stopped abruptly when she slid her hands under its warm body and lifted the suddenly flailing cat to the window from which it had leapt. But she found the window closed and the older woman gesturing from the doorway. “Oh, thank you, dear,” the woman said as she reached for the cat, “Sherlock’s usually so much better behaved, but sometimes he’s just a little more adventurous than I know what to do with.”

“I’m just glad John didn’t chase him down the street,” Molly said, followed by a nervous giggle as she handed him off to the woman.

“Me too,” the woman said with a soft laugh of her own. She slid Sherlock into the crook of her arm as she extended a hand and introduced herself as, “Mrs. Martha Hudson.” Molly gave her own name as she returned the lady’s warm grasp. “Would you care to come in for a cup of tea, dear?” Mrs. Hudson asked.

“That would be lovely,” Molly answered as she followed Mrs. Hudson into the flat, and John followed her in turn.

Soon, the water had boiled, Molly and Mrs. Hudson were seated across from each other in two wonderfully squishy chairs and chatting, and John had curled up on a rug. Sherlock batted at John’s tail as it wagged.

**Author's Note:**

> Because he's a golden, I sort of see John as being a slightly more restrained version of Dug, from Up, while Sherlock is kind of laid back, while also being fidgety and curious. This all sort of came out of a weekend I spent dogsitting for a golden, and the interaction between him and my own cat were sort of similar. I got a bit of a giggle and a story out of it.


End file.
